First, the Chicago Reader is worried about possible libel and will be monitoring this thread closely, so I will make every attempt to keep everything factual. Please do the same to prevent this thread from being closed.
Second, I need to step back a bit and explain what a literary agent does, so that everyone understands. A literary agent is a writer’s link to publishing houses. When you land an agent, that agent’s job is to sell your book to the publisher and negotiate your contracts, so you make the most money and keep as many of your rights as possible (like film rights, etc.) They make their money by taking a percentage (usually 15%) of the money you make selling your book, so they have a vested interest in getting you the most money as possible. With a few exceptions, legitimate agents do not charge upfront fees to writers (and in fact, it’s against the canon of ethics for the Association of Authors’ Representatives). The agent has contacts in the publishing houses (many of whom will only look at agented manuscripts), and it’s not a job just anybody can easily get. Unfortunately, it’s not a job that requires any particular degree or licensing either. Anyone can call himself a literary agent. There are three types of agents:
- The real deal. These guys have clients whose names you recognize, or at least their clients have books in the brick-and-mortar stores that you can go and pick up. They are the agencies writers talk about in dreamy tones. Example: http://www.scglit.com/ Even if the agency or agent is new, they probably came from a publishing background or were junior agents at another agency.
- The clueless newbie. Often disgruntled writers, they aren’t scammers, but they are no more effective in being able to place your book at a publisher than you are. Some can become the real deal with time and persistence. Most fail.
- The scammers. Sometimes clueless newbies end up here after trying to go legit. They learn they can make a fortune simply by accepting any manuscript that crosses their path and charging the writer for the privilege. They may or may not actually send manuscripts on to publishers. Even if they do, they usually shotgun submissions to inappropriate houses (such as sending romances to houses that specialize in horror or fiction to nonfiction houses.) They often have ties to vanity publishers or editing services and may receive kickbacks for sending hopeful writers their way. They have no interest in selling your book, because they’ve already made their money from you.
Fortunately for us writers, there are a number of resources to help fight these last two groups. Preditors & Editors (the misspelling is deliberate), Writer Beware, and Jenna Glatzer’s Absolute Write message board, especially its Bewares & Background Checks subforum.
A few months ago, Writer Beware posted a list of their 20 Worst Agencies. This list has spread throughout the Internet, posted on blogs, writers’ websites, and scam buster sites. In their words, “None of these agencies has a significant track record of sales to commercial (advance-paying) publishers, and most have virtually no documented and verified sales at all (book placements claimed by some of these agencies turn out to be “sales” to vanity publishers). All charge clients before a sale is made–whether directly, by levying fees such as reading or administrative fees, or indirectly, for editing or other adjunct services.”
Some or all of the agencies in the list may not have committed any crimes, in that they stick to the letter of their contracts, but none of them have proven themselves any more able to place a writer’s book with a publisher than the writer himself.
Many people who have posted the list have reported receiving emails from one of the agents on the list, Barbara Bauer, ordering them to remove the list and threatening lawsuits. She has allegedly tried to get Teresa Nielsen Hayden fired for posting the list, and has apparently made numerous legal threats against Ann Crispin and Victoria Strauss (no cite; I think I’m remembering Victoria mention it on the AW boards, but if you do a search for Bauer here (April 25 post), you can find additional information Victoria has posted.) Of course, no one has said anything that was untrue, so Bauer would find it difficult to find grounds for libel.
The most recent problem happened when someone posted Bauer’s email address on the Absolute Write thread dedicated to her agency. Bauer contacted AW’s web host and claimed that posting that address violated the DMCA because it would allow spammers to send her email (despite the fact that the “agent’s” email address is listed on her website.) The web host, who is also a poster on the boards, panicked and sent Jenna an email and also posted a little hissy fit post to the thread in question requesting that the email address be removed ( saw the post myself, that’s why I call it a hissy fit).
Even though everyone assured her that Bauer is just full of hot air and wouldn’t want to risk her activities being brought into light if she really did try to sue, not to mention that posting an email address does not apparently have anything to do with the DMCA (IANAL, so I’m relaying this information secondhand), the web host gave the site an hour and then pulled it. That was the evening of May 23rd and the site still isn’t back up (they moved to a new web host).
So what did Barbara Bauer, “Literary Agent,” learn? That if she screams loud enough, someone will give her what she wants. Thanks to this web host’s lack of respect for its client and its inability or unwillingness to research to see if a problem really did exist, Bauer might actually believe she won something. The other nineteen agencies might have other thoughts on the matter, however, since every time someone decides to post the list to piss off Bauer, the word about them spreads farther, too.